The present invention relates to a wearing article comprising pants and a pad releasably attached to the pants so that the pad may absorb and retain bodily discharges.
There have already been proposed disposable wearing articles each comprising pants and an absorbent pad attached to the inner side of the pants having front and rear waist regions opposed to each other, a crotch region extending between these waist regions, a waist-hole and a pair of leg-holes, and an absorbent pad attached to the inner side of the pants so as to extend between the front and rear waist regions (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 1997-56746, hereinafter referred to as “Reference 1”). The pad comprises a wearer-facing liquid-pervious topsheet, a wearer-opposing liquid-impervious backsheet and an absorbent core interposed between and bonded to these sheets. In the pad, longitudinally opposite ends of the backsheet extending beyond longitudinally opposite ends of the core are bonded to respective peripheries of the front and rear waist regions of the pants and a longitudinally middle zone of the backsheet is bonded to the crotch region of the pants. This wearing article allows bodily discharges to be absorbed through the topsheet by the core and to be retained therein.
There have already been proposed also body waste absorbent pads, each of which is longer than is wide, comprising an absorbent unit and a cover sheet wherein the absorbent unit is formed by a liquid-pervious topsheet, a liquid-impervious backsheet and an absorbent core interposed between these sheets and respective segments of the top- and backsheets extending upward from a periphery of the absorbent unit define the cover sheet so as to cover the upper surface of the absorbent unit and wherein the absorbent unit is centrally formed with an opening surrounded by the cover sheet (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-42033, hereinafter referred to as “Citation 2”). The cover sheet is provided around its crowning with a circularly extending stretchable elastic member contractibly attached thereto. The pad is releasably attached to the inner side of the crotch region of a diaper cover by means of pressure-sensible adhesive coated on the lower surface of the backsheet and then worn together with the diaper cover. This pad allows bodily discharges to be absorbed through the opening by the absorbent unit and retained therein. The pad contaminated with bodily discharges may be released from the diaper cover for disposal.
In the case of the wearing article disclosed by Reference 1, it is impossible to exchange the pad alone with a fresh pad after this pad has been contaminated with bodily discharges since the pad is bonded to the pants. In other words, the article as a whole should be exchanged with a fresh article. In addition, when body waste exceeds a given critical mass, this pad of prior art can not sufficiently function to absorb bodily discharges completely and an excess of bodily discharges may leak out from the pad. This is because the pad of prior art is formed therein with no space adapted to retain bodily discharges.
In the case of the pad disclosed by Reference 2, the pad is attached to the crotch region of the diaper cover so that the pad may slip down as the diaper cover slips down from its proper position. Consequently, it may be impossible for the pad to maintain itself in contact with the wearer's skin and bodily discharges may leak sideways out of the pad.